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Tracy Nakayama’s Ceremony, part of TRIPLE FANTASY at Third Man Records

There are plenty of great art events this week in Nashville, including several featuring Modular Art Pods participants.

On Thursday, August 4th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Third Man Records, Nashville Scene arts editor and friend of-MAPs Laura Huston is curating Triple Fantasy, a three-artist exhibition exploring the intersection between sex and magic. 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

From the press release:

Artists Elijah Burgher, Tracy Nakayama and Benjy Russell address themes of queerness, sexuality and the occult through their unique drawings, prints, paintings and photography. Burgher’s drawings, paintings and prints draw largely on sigils and an imaginary cult called the Bachelors of the Dawn that claims the supremacy of homosexual men. Nakayama’s paintings reference 1970s porn and, more recently, contemporary nudist colonies. She has created a painting specifically for this exhibit, and will have a limited edition print of another painting available. Russell uses photography to incorporate ideas of ritual and sexuality. His often surreal work eschews Photoshop in favor of absurdism and in-camera effects. Join us on the 4th for the opening reception, or if you can’t make it, stop by in the following 4 days to see this incredible show.

Legs, part of Sideshow Fringe Fest

Thursday, August 4 marks the kickoff of the 2016 Sideshow Fringe Festival curated by MAPs alum Jessika Malone. This multidisciplinary, multi-venue stage arts festival has been running strong for 6 years, and it gets better every year.

One can’t-miss show is the play Legs, directed by MAPs alum Madeleine Hicks.

When Cara Smart turns 16 years old, it’s time for her to answer the age old question that every young woman must face: which limb would she amputate first? Disturbing, hilarious, and poignant-Legs provokes important questions about how society constructs beauty and the struggles women face to conform to a world built against them. “After all, a woman without prosthetics would be just, impractical.”

Saturday’s Downtown and Wedgewood/Houston art crawls are shaping up to be spectacular.

At 40AU Gallery in the downtown Arcade, MAPs alum Chip Boles presents his first Nashville solo show. He’ll be there doing live drawing. Saturday, August 6 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Chip Boles’ Art Pod at OZ Art Fest

Tinney 10th Anniversary Show

Saturday at Tinney Contemporary we have A Decade in the Making, a two-part exhibition celebrating the gallery’s 10 year anniversary. The exhibition features a number of artists, including MAPs alum Carla Ciuffo. Check the Tinney Contemporary website to see the full list of artists. 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Queen Ave, the East-Nashville experimental gallery and venue, just announced their own edition of Modular Art Pods, slated for November 11 and 12, 2016. This makes me happy. My hope for MAPs was always that other people would take the concept and run with it. That’s exactly what the Queen Ave organizers Tyler Blankenship and Tyler Walker are doing. It’s is why we licensed the idea under Creative Commons – Share Alike.

That being said, I should be explicit in stating that I am not involved in the production of Modular Art Pods @ Queen Ave, although I plan on submitting a pod idea for the show. If you have any questions, contact Tyler Blankenship at jtblankenship@me.com.

Applications are open now through August 25, 2016. Queen Ave will consider both new pods and pods built for previous editions of MAPs. This is a great opportunity to re-use the pod sitting in your basement. They will also consider performers who don’t necessarily want to build their own pod.

We don’t have any immediate plans to host another Modular Art Pods, but there’s a good chance we’ll put one on every few years. In the meantime, Queen Avenue Art Collective is considering hosting one of their own for next year. If you’d like to host a MAPs in your city, please contact me at tonyyoungblood@gmail.com.

Saturday, June 25 is your last chance to experience Modular Art Pods at OZ Art Fest. We have so many great things planned, including a performance by N&XT where your TV watches YOU, a live light show featuring Dig Deep with music by Ben Marcantel and droneroom, an intimate immersive performance by White Orchard Theatre, and swing dancing in the Dome with the Nashville Jitterbugs! Don’t miss it! Exhibit is open from 11am to 9pm. Cost for the full OZ Art Fest, including live music outside, food trucks, and several other gallery shows is $20. Full schedule is below. And now, videos!

White Orchard Theater

“Polar North, 1955” is a story of innocence, wilderness, exploration, romance, and industrial-age consumerism told by an arctic explorer and his lover, through a series of letters. This short piece combines live performance with motion illustration. It will be projected into the Digital Dome.

It’s been a spectacular two days at Modular Art Pods at OZ Arts Nashville, with amazing pods, great performances, and huge turnouts. Tomorrow night (Thursday, June 23rd) from 6 to 9 p.m., we’re pulling out all the stops for TNT edition. During Thursday Night Things, we’ll have a greater frequency of performances and special interactions with pod builders. For example, you’ll be able to see a dancing octopus with Madeleine Hicks and Paul Kintzing; a butoh-inspired, egg-splatt-tacular performance piece by Blue Stocking; intimate moments with Andri Alexandrou, and a choose-your-own-adventure play with Sideshow Ensemble. And that’s just a tiny glimpse of all the cool things happening at MAPs TNT. Check out the full schedule below. But first, videos!

Aubrey Derryberry

Madeleine Hicks and Paul Kintzing

As Kintzing plays steel drum, Hicks will perform a silent play about the life and death of an aquarium-imprisoned octopus, complete with octopus costume handmade by local designer Nic Magee.

Blue Stocking (Ashley Lawless and Janelle Bonfour-Mikes)

Movement art that is a blend of physical theater, modern dance and Japanese Butoh. Eggs will be set out on the floor in the pattern of Venus’s path around the sun. The performers will walk the path 13 times, each time presenting a different story, a different viewpoint, and a different moment in time.

We’re less than a week away from Modular Art Pods at OZ Art Fest! The exhibition opens Tuesday, July 21st at 11 a.m. The first two days are FREE. See the full hours, performance schedule, and ticket information here.